Slow system - scumware?

My new home system was lightning fast - until recently. It seems as though
some update I got from Automatic Updates in the last two weeks caused it to
slow down considerably when booting, and at odd other times, like when I'm
looking at newsgroups woth Outlook Express. Everything will be fine then I
click on a message (after successfully clicking on numerous messages) the
cursor will go to a hourglass and the hard drive grinds and grinds. A few
*minutes* later and I'm finally able to do something again. I thought I had
picked up some spyware or something so I ran AdAware - no help. Yesterday I
mentioned it to my boss at work and he said the same thing had happened to
his W2K system, also after doing Windows Update. Has anyone heard of any
problems with a recent Update?

"Ted Zieglar" wrote in message
...
The five most prevalent causes of poor performance, accounting for 98% of
complaints:

1. Hardware not up to the task and/or mismatched hardware.
2. Viruses, spyware.
3. Too many programs running in the background.
4. User misconfiguration.
5. Lack of maintenance.
--
Ted Zieglar


"Quentin" wrote in message
...
I have done the Spybot, Adaware, defrag, McAfee Clean Disk 5.0 and MY
system
runs slow as well. Correction... it runs slow with video related apps
and
a
few others. It is noticable when opening apps which can take several
minutes.
Apps like Office, IE, Quicken, ACT etc. all open fast. Defrag can take
as
long as 5 minutes. Going into Windows Explorer can lock up and require
an
End Task... Help.

I have 2 80GB HD with all apps running on the C:\

Quentin

"~ FreeSpirit ~" wrote:


"afruci" wrote in message
...
I have tried everything from defrag, to restore and nothing seems to
work
in
speeding up my computer. Is there anything I can do. Its very
slow,
programs associated with my dvd, will not work properly, etc..

Please Help?
==========================
I just helped a friend remove close to 200 spies, adware, a few
keyloggers,
unknown browser plug-ins etc from her crawling, creeping Dell (with
WXP-SP1)
this morning. Spybot and Adaware did the deed. Then, after
installing
Norton System Works, SysDr found and fixed 126 "problems" in all
areas.
We
did a scandisk/fix errors. It didn't need a defrag. After a reboot
it
ran
like a new PC! :-))) It was being strangled by scumware and had
accumulated other problems over time. She's thrilled!

FS~

Of course we have but you need to find the source of the issue which may not
have anything to do with Windows Update.

You've already checked for adware but have you run a virus scan; be sure
your antivirus software has the latest definitions and run a
virus scan.

If your system is clear of viruses and any malware, open Control Panel, open
System, go to
the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, remove the
check from "Automatically Restart" under System Failure. This will cause
the system to blue screen instead of restarting on errors and the
information on the blue screen may give a clue as to the source of the
issue.

Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for
errors corresponding to the crash, double click the error, the information
contained within may give a clue as to the
source of the problem.

Assuming you have an XP CD and not a recovery CD, place the XP CD in the
drive, when the setup screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility,"
the report it generates may point to problem hardware or software on your
system. If you do not have an XP CD, you can download this application
known as the Upgrade Advisor from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...ng/advisor.asp
Note: If you have access to a broadband connection it might be best to
download using that as this is a rather large download.

Check for the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your graphics
card and soundcard and all peripherals connected to your system. No not use
Windows Update for this, go to the device manufacturer's web sites and if
you install updated drivers, ignore the message about drivers being unsigned
by Microsoft.


--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"Ron Hinds" wrote in message
...
My new home system was lightning fast - until recently. It seems as though
some update I got from Automatic Updates in the last two weeks caused it
to
slow down considerably when booting, and at odd other times, like when I'm
looking at newsgroups woth Outlook Express. Everything will be fine then I
click on a message (after successfully clicking on numerous messages) the
cursor will go to a hourglass and the hard drive grinds and grinds. A few
*minutes* later and I'm finally able to do something again. I thought I
had
picked up some spyware or something so I ran AdAware - no help. Yesterday
I
mentioned it to my boss at work and he said the same thing had happened to
his W2K system, also after doing Windows Update. Has anyone heard of any
problems with a recent Update?

"Ted Zieglar" wrote in message
...
The five most prevalent causes of poor performance, accounting for 98% of
complaints:

1. Hardware not up to the task and/or mismatched hardware.
2. Viruses, spyware.
3. Too many programs running in the background.
4. User misconfiguration.
5. Lack of maintenance.
--
Ted Zieglar


"Quentin" wrote in message
...
I have done the Spybot, Adaware, defrag, McAfee Clean Disk 5.0 and MY
system
runs slow as well. Correction... it runs slow with video related apps
and
a
few others. It is noticable when opening apps which can take several
minutes.
Apps like Office, IE, Quicken, ACT etc. all open fast. Defrag can
take
as
long as 5 minutes. Going into Windows Explorer can lock up and require
an
End Task... Help.

I have 2 80GB HD with all apps running on the C:\

Quentin

"~ FreeSpirit ~" wrote:


"afruci" wrote in message
...
I have tried everything from defrag, to restore and nothing seems
to
work
in
speeding up my computer. Is there anything I can do. Its very
slow,
programs associated with my dvd, will not work properly, etc..

Please Help?
==========================
I just helped a friend remove close to 200 spies, adware, a few
keyloggers,
unknown browser plug-ins etc from her crawling, creeping Dell (with
WXP-SP1)
this morning. Spybot and Adaware did the deed. Then, after
installing
Norton System Works, SysDr found and fixed 126 "problems" in all
areas.
We
did a scandisk/fix errors. It didn't need a defrag. After a reboot
it
ran
like a new PC! :-))) It was being strangled by scumware and had
accumulated other problems over time. She's thrilled!

FS~

"Ron Hinds" wrote in message

My new home system was lightning fast - until recently. It seems as
though some update I got from Automatic Updates in the last two weeks
caused it to slow down considerably when booting, and at odd other
times, like when I'm looking at newsgroups woth Outlook Express.
Everything will be fine then I click on a message (after successfully
clicking on numerous messages) the cursor will go to a hourglass and
the hard drive grinds and grinds. A few *minutes* later and I'm
finally able to do something again. I thought I had picked up some
spyware or something so I ran AdAware - no help. Yesterday I
mentioned it to my boss at work and he said the same thing had
happened to his W2K system, also after doing Windows Update. Has
anyone heard of any problems with a recent Update?

"Ted Zieglar" wrote in message
...
The five most prevalent causes of poor performance, accounting for
98% of complaints:

1. Hardware not up to the task and/or mismatched hardware.
2. Viruses, spyware.
3. Too many programs running in the background.
4. User misconfiguration.
5. Lack of maintenance.
--
Ted Zieglar


"Quentin" wrote in message
...
I have done the Spybot, Adaware, defrag, McAfee Clean Disk 5.0 and
MY system runs slow as well. Correction... it runs slow with video
related apps and a few others. It is noticable when opening apps
which can take several minutes. Apps like Office, IE, Quicken, ACT
etc. all open fast. Defrag can take as long as 5 minutes. Going
into Windows Explorer can lock up and require an End Task... Help.

I have 2 80GB HD with all apps running on the C:\

Quentin

"~ FreeSpirit ~" wrote:


"afruci" wrote in message
...
I have tried everything from defrag, to restore and nothing seems
to work in speeding up my computer. Is there anything I can do.
Its very slow, programs associated with my dvd, will not work
properly, etc..

Please Help?
==========================
I just helped a friend remove close to 200 spies, adware, a few
keyloggers, unknown browser plug-ins etc from her crawling,
creeping Dell (with WXP-SP1) this morning. Spybot and Adaware did
the deed. Then, after installing Norton System Works, SysDr found
and fixed 126 "problems" in all areas. We did a scandisk/fix
errors. It didn't need a defrag. After a reboot it ran like a
new PC! :-))) It was being strangled by scumware and had
accumulated other problems over time. She's thrilled!

FS~

Empty your Temporary Internet Files including checking the box to delete all
offline content.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/sec...t/default.aspx

Ron Hinds wrote:
My new home system was lightning fast - until recently. It seems as though
some update I got from Automatic Updates in the last two weeks caused it to
slow down considerably when booting, and at odd other times, like when I'm
looking at newsgroups woth Outlook Express. Everything will be fine then I
click on a message (after successfully clicking on numerous messages) the
cursor will go to a hourglass and the hard drive grinds and grinds. A few
*minutes* later and I'm finally able to do something again. I thought I had
picked up some spyware or something so I ran AdAware - no help. Yesterday I
mentioned it to my boss at work and he said the same thing had happened to
his W2K system, also after doing Windows Update. Has anyone heard of any
problems with a recent Update?


You need to clean up your system(and your boss should too)

Beginning of standard canned reply.

In Windows Explorer, set Folder Options to “show all files”.
Clean out all temp, cache, ect. files.
Download BeClean he
http://boozet.xepher.net/beclean/

Download Sysclean from he
http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/tsc/sysclean.com
Read this(it tells you how to use it!):
http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/tsc/readme.txt
Reboot into safe mode and run Sysclean, write down results, then reboot
normally.
If offending file is in “restore” read this:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...rc=sec_doc_nam

Download AdAware from he
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html
Read the help files,download the winsock fix, and then Update and run
AdAware.
If you lose your Internet connection after running AdAware run the fix.
Winsock Fix he
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=257

Download Spybot Search+Destroy he
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
Read this:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/tutorial/index.html
Update and run Spybot (enable all protection).

Download Spyware Blaster he (enable all protection)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Run a couple of online scanners (pick a different one than your main AV):

BitDefender:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php

Norton:
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/h...YYTZXPE&bhcp=1

Panda:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/actives..._principal.htm

eTrust:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx

House Call:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hous...start_corp.asp

If the previous do not solve your problems:
Download Bazooka he
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/

Download SwatIt he
http://swatit.org/

Download KL-Detector here
http://dewasoft.com/privacy/kldetector.htm

Download CWShredder here
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract..._download.html

Download HijackThis he
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
Install, run and save the log that is created. Don’t let it fix anything
yet!
You can find forums to post the log to have it analyzed he
http://tomcoyote.org/hjt/

End of standard canned reply.


"Ted Zieglar" wrote in message
...

The five most prevalent causes of poor performance, accounting for 98% of
complaints:

1. Hardware not up to the task and/or mismatched hardware.
2. Viruses, spyware.
3. Too many programs running in the background.
4. User misconfiguration.
5. Lack of maintenance.
--
Ted Zieglar


"Quentin" wrote in message
...
I have done the Spybot, Adaware, defrag, McAfee Clean Disk 5.0 and MY system
runs slow as well. Correction... it runs slow with video related apps and a
few others. It is noticable when opening apps which can take several minutes.
Apps like Office, IE, Quicken, ACT etc. all open fast. Defrag can take as
long as 5 minutes. Going into Windows Explorer can lock up and require an
End Task... Help.
I have 2 80GB HD with all apps running on the C:\
Quentin

"~ FreeSpirit ~" wrote:
"afruci" wrote in message
...
I have tried everything from defrag, to restore and nothing seems to work in
speeding up my computer. Is there anything I can do. Its very slow,
programs associated with my dvd, will not work properly, etc..
Please Help?
==========================
I just helped a friend remove close to 200 spies, adware, a few keyloggers,
unknown browser plug-ins etc from her crawling, creeping Dell (with WXP-SP1)
this morning. Spybot and Adaware did the deed. Then, after installing
Norton System Works, SysDr found and fixed 126 "problems" in all areas.
We did a scandisk/fix errors. It didn't need a defrag. After a reboot
it ran like a new PC! :-))) It was being strangled by scumware and had
accumulated other problems over time. She's thrilled!
FS~

For more info see below.
-max
--
Virus Removal Instructions: http://www.geocities.com/maxpro4u/
Keeping Windows Clean: http://www.geocities.com/maxpro4u/madmax.html
Virus Cleaning+Fixes: http://www.geocities.com/maxpro4u/TechPros
Change nomail.afraid.org to neo.rr.com so you can reply by e-mail
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in Usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

Turn off your anti-virus program(s) running in the background and see if the
behavior repeats.

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com


"Ron Hinds" wrote in message
...
My new home system was lightning fast - until recently. It seems as though
some update I got from Automatic Updates in the last two weeks caused it
to
slow down considerably when booting, and at odd other times, like when I'm
looking at newsgroups woth Outlook Express. Everything will be fine then I
click on a message (after successfully clicking on numerous messages) the
cursor will go to a hourglass and the hard drive grinds and grinds. A few
*minutes* later and I'm finally able to do something again. I thought I
had
picked up some spyware or something so I ran AdAware - no help. Yesterday
I
mentioned it to my boss at work and he said the same thing had happened to
his W2K system, also after doing Windows Update. Has anyone heard of any
problems with a recent Update?

"Ted Zieglar" wrote in message
...
The five most prevalent causes of poor performance, accounting for 98% of
complaints:

1. Hardware not up to the task and/or mismatched hardware.
2. Viruses, spyware.
3. Too many programs running in the background.
4. User misconfiguration.
5. Lack of maintenance.
--
Ted Zieglar


"Quentin" wrote in message
...
I have done the Spybot, Adaware, defrag, McAfee Clean Disk 5.0 and MY
system
runs slow as well. Correction... it runs slow with video related apps
and
a
few others. It is noticable when opening apps which can take several
minutes.
Apps like Office, IE, Quicken, ACT etc. all open fast. Defrag can
take
as
long as 5 minutes. Going into Windows Explorer can lock up and require
an
End Task... Help.

I have 2 80GB HD with all apps running on the C:\

Quentin

"~ FreeSpirit ~" wrote:


"afruci" wrote in message
...
I have tried everything from defrag, to restore and nothing seems
to
work
in
speeding up my computer. Is there anything I can do. Its very
slow,
programs associated with my dvd, will not work properly, etc..

Please Help?
==========================
I just helped a friend remove close to 200 spies, adware, a few
keyloggers,
unknown browser plug-ins etc from her crawling, creeping Dell (with
WXP-SP1)
this morning. Spybot and Adaware did the deed. Then, after
installing
Norton System Works, SysDr found and fixed 126 "problems" in all
areas.
We
did a scandisk/fix errors. It didn't need a defrag. After a reboot
it
ran
like a new PC! :-))) It was being strangled by scumware and had
accumulated other problems over time. She's thrilled!

FS~